Canary Islands Government Launches Legal Bid to Repatriate Erques Mummy
The Canary Islands government has launched a formal legal challenge to repatriate the 12th-century Erques mummy from Madrid’s National Archaeological Museum to Tenerife.
The Canary Islands government has launched a formal legal challenge to bring the Erques mummy home. Following the International Symposium on Heritage Diasporas in Tenerife, regional officials have filed an administrative request with the Spanish state—a necessary first step toward a potential lawsuit to secure the return of the remains, which are currently held at the National Archaeological Museum (MAN) in Madrid.
This move, backed by the Island Council of Tenerife, highlights the ongoing friction between centralized heritage management and the push for cultural sovereignty in autonomous regions. The mummy, a 12th-century male discovered in 1763 in the Herques ravine and moved to Madrid in 1776, has been removed from public display since February 2025, following updated Ministry of Culture ethical guidelines regarding the exhibition of human remains.
Canarian President Fernando Clavijo argues that there is no technical or academic reason to keep the mummy in Madrid, calling its continued storage there an "anomaly" that should be corrected through political action. The regional government believes the remains should be returned to their original home, where they can be properly studied and appreciated. Rosa Dávila, president of the Island Council, emphasized that this is a decades-long struggle to reclaim the Canarian cultural legacy, noting that the Museum of Nature and Archaeology (MUNA) in Tenerife currently only holds a replica.
The dispute is unfolding against the backdrop of the upcoming general elections on November 29, 2026, leaving the Canarian government uncertain about how the next central administration will respond. Meanwhile, experts from thirteen countries at the recent symposium have drafted the "Tenerife Declaration," a document designed to provide stronger scientific and legal support for the restitution of archaeological artifacts. Whether the mummy is finally returned will depend on whether this new administrative push can change the state's long-standing position of keeping the remains in storage.